River Witham Sword from CZ
Nov 8, 2019 21:55:21 GMT
Post by illustry on Nov 8, 2019 21:55:21 GMT
Since bringing my brazil-nut Deepeeka to a satisfying point, I needed another low-cost sword to tweak on. I stumbled across an in-stock "sharp" replica of the River Witham sword on outfit4events.com, which usually carries Wulflund-type blunts. On an impulse, I took the plunge. www.outfit4events.com/eur/product/8953-river-witham-sword-museum-replica-class-b/
The inscriptions are scratched onto the blade, vs inlaid in latten, but then again, what do you want for 300 bucks? I suspect doing inlays for all those letters would be incredibly time-consuming. At least they are correctly represented, albeit a little crude, and small.
While it gave the sword nice balance at 4", which seems to have been the intent, it was very uncomfortable, and worse, when swinging, as it crossed your palm, would turn the blade due to its height. Not what you want happening during a cut. What to do about this? Round it off with a file to resemble a type R, like the Tritonia? Seemed like I'd be tweaking on that for months. I decided I'd try taking the grinder to it, to plane off some of the height.
The sword made it from Kadan, CZ to Texas in less than a week, in a thin box, all wrapped up in plastic.
This sword has an incredible ring to it. The guard and pommel have some hidden welds, and the tang has been hot-peened. There is no wood grip - the tang is simply wrapped in leather.
It is heavy. The blade is stiff due to the dual fullers and no distal taper. I will be adding some later. As received: 3lb 9.8 oz, exactly 4" point of balance. Blade thickness 4.9-4.75mm near guard and 4.5mm in tip area.
The inscriptions are scratched onto the blade, vs inlaid in latten, but then again, what do you want for 300 bucks? I suspect doing inlays for all those letters would be incredibly time-consuming. At least they are correctly represented, albeit a little crude, and small.
The pommel was a huge disappointment, quite literally. I don't know if the photos on the website are altered or just outdated, but clearly it is not the same pommel pictured there.
While it gave the sword nice balance at 4", which seems to have been the intent, it was very uncomfortable, and worse, when swinging, as it crossed your palm, would turn the blade due to its height. Not what you want happening during a cut. What to do about this? Round it off with a file to resemble a type R, like the Tritonia? Seemed like I'd be tweaking on that for months. I decided I'd try taking the grinder to it, to plane off some of the height.
The blade geometry is very well done. The edges are contoured nicely, and this will take a near-invisible final edge bevel when I sharpen it. Whoever did the grind did a great job on this part.
Instead of going through the trouble to create a huge sledgehammer pommel spend a few more minutes on the blade taper... next time.
Back to the pommel, I made a jig out of some wood for the angle grinder to ensure a nice cut. Don't want to freehand too much of this, as any mistakes with the grinder translate to a lot of extra time filing and sanding. I carefully adjusted the path and axis of the cutting wheel by positioning the wood pieces as guides.
The pommel got quite hot during the cutting process. The entire blade stayed absolutely cool, and I let the pommel and outer tang stay hot as it probably would only help normalize the welds and tang steel. The giant pommel was a great heat sink. I did get some discoloration of the removed piece. Also, the fireworks show was amazing... a 5ft rooster tail of showers.
A quick filing and polish through the grits, and it's a new sword: 3lb 4.4oz with exactly a 5" point of balance. Not great, but it's on the way.
I am super happy with the results, not just in looks, but also how it feels. Before starting I estimated the amount of mass that would be removed would be about 3.5oz which would give me a 4.5" pob. Turns out it was a little more, over 5oz, but I'm very happy with the results. Despite the point of balance being further out, the decrease in overall weight has made it feel more lively. This will only be improved as I add the distal taper.